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On Wednesday and Thursday, teacher/bloggers extraordinaire Nancy Flanagan and Bill Ferriter debated the benefits of technology in the classroom, and a host of other top-flight educators added their insights in the comments section.  Their postings were so thoughtful and engaging that I just had to add my two cents.  

I had to think about the debate and resulting comments as my wife and I watched the new Pixar film Wall-e yesterday.  The film presents a technological dystopia.  Humans have escaped to outer space after filling the planet with so much consumerist junk that it can no longer sustain life.  The film reminds me of Beckett's play Endgame, whose characters inhabit trash cans, overwhelmed by the refuse of an increasingly degenerate culture. ...

Over the past week, Public School Insights has been interviewing the distinguished co-chairs of the high-profile task force behind a new campaign calling for a "Broader, Bolder Approach to Education."  As we noted in an earlier post, the task force is advocating for a set of policies to reform schools while offsetting the social and economic disadvantages that contribute to academic achievement gaps.

I recently spoke with campaign co-chair Helen Ladd, a prominent professor of economics and public policy at Duke University.  Like co-chairs Pedro Noguera and Tom Payzant, Ladd argues that schools alone cannot close achievement gaps--The nation needs aggressive school reform strategies as well as policies to minimize the impact of poverty on student performance. ...

A diverse coalition of more than 60 experts in education, health, civil rights, economics and other fields just released a joint statement calling for "a broader, bolder approach to education" that includes policies to reduce the economic and social disadvantages that exacerbate academic achievement gaps. While continuing to urge school improvement efforts, their approach promotes early childhood education, after-school and summer opportunities, physical health, character, social development, creativity, and effective citizenship.

According to the coalition's ads in the New York Times and Washington Post, "Some schools have demonstrated unusual effectiveness. But even they cannot, by themselves, close the entire gap between students from different backgrounds in a substantial, consistent and sustainable manner on the full range of academic and non-academic measures by which we judge student success." ...

The recent dust-up between Senators Obama and McCain over a new "GI Bill" for veterans has drowned out news of a measure in the same bill that could save districts billions in the coming years.

This seemingly arcane measure has very important implications for public schools. As we pointed out in March, a Bush administration decision to prevent schools from claiming Medicaid reimbursements for transportation and administration costs could have an enormous impact on school district budgets across the country.

In late 2007, Congressional opponents of this change managed to delay implementation of the new rules until June 30, which is of course just around the corner. ...